Friends of mine who live in Arizona and have seen Corwin, Irwin and O'Shea all film shows there say all 3 stage their finds. It makes sense, paying a crew by the hour is very expensive. Herpers sometimes get very lucky and find all sorts of critters one day, another time they find nothing! Who could afford to pay a crew to follow him around to find stuff.

I also prefer O'Shea's shows but admire the Irwins greatly for how well they put out the conservation message and how they get children so interested in herps. Also, they were very supportive to the Philadelphia Zoo when they rebuilt their reptile house and even more so when a devastating fire on a Christmas Eve burned down the primate house and killed many beloved animals.

They do a lot of work within the zoo community which is not on the show but very valuable indeed.